Juan Soto’s first game in a Yankee uniform did not disappoint.
The Bronx Bombers’ new slugger made his spring training debut on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays and provided a taste of what is to come this season for the Yanks.
In his third at-bat of the game, Soto blasted an opposite-field home run off the scoreboard behind the left-center field wall to drive in three runs and cap a 1-for-2 day at the plate.
It was the first of what Yankees fans hope are many more to come once the calendar flips to the regular season.
As for Soto, he had been looking forward to making his debut in front of his new fans.
“You want to get that feeling of the Yankee fans,” Soto told reporters after the game. “You always hear about them. You get to a point where you’ll be like, ‘OK, I want to feel about them. I want to see how it’s going to feel to have them on my back cheering for me instead of booing me.’”
Soto also scored a run after working a full-count walk in his second at-bat while grounding out in the first inning.
Soto appeared to twist his ankle and stumbled to the ground in the first innings, but he assured he is fine.
“It just happens sometimes,” he said. “It happens a little but too often to me. Sometimes I do that, I roll my ankle down there, but all good.”
The duo of Soto and Aaron Judge batting back-to-back also paid immediate dividends.
After Alex Verdugo led off the game with a double, Soto moved him to third on a groundout while Judge knocked him in with an RBI single.
Two innings later, after Soto worked a leadoff walk, Judge doubled to set up second and third for Anthony Rizzo, who brought Soto in with a RBI groundout. Gelyber Torres followed with a sac fly to score Judge.
“It’s the first day, I don’t want to jump too far ahead,” Judge told reporters after the game. “But you could ask anybody in that lineup: we were all pretty excited. …we all felt like little kids again.”